Mold-Mates
by SuperGroverAway
Summary: The Pines twins have a discussion over their "roommates." Dipper's no fan, but his sister has some strongly differing opinions.


Just a bit of silliness inspired by one random throwaway line in "Gideon Rises." Enjoy! - **SGA**

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"...Night, Mabel." Dipper sleepily mumbled as he crawled into bed.

"G'night, Dipper!" Mabel cheerily replied in kind. The little brunette pulled up her sheets and snugly tucked in her stuffed tiger. "G'night, Mister Stripes!"

Next up was the sleepy pink lump lying curled at her feet. Mabel gently pat him on the head, eliciting a dozy snort from her beloved pet. "G'night, Waddles! Sweet piggy dreams!"

As usual, Dipper found himself trying to suppress a smile at the sight that his twin cut. He leaned over and flicked off the lamp, bathing the attic room in darkness. Usually this signaled the end of their simple bedtime routine. Mabel however apparently had other plans that evening.

"G'night, Pierce..." She started bidding affectionately. "G'night, Abbey...g'night, Michelle...g'night Lewis..."

Confusion immediately fell upon Dipper. It wasn't any roster that he had ever heard before. The bemused boy rolled over to investigate. From what could see, his sister was busy addressing the various mushy splotches that dotted the ceiling.

"...G'night, Babette! G'night, Quentin…."

"Mabel?" He interrupted curiously. "Are you...saying goodnight to all the mold spots?"

"Only my favorites ones!" She answered back distractedly, barely missing a beat. "G'night, Daryl...g'night Harper…g'night, Marietta…."

"Oh. Okay." It was no secret that she had long since named most of them. But while he waited for sleep, he couldn't help but let his gaze wander absentmindedly to the fungal patches that she was still cooing to.

Accommodations at the Mystery Shack had never been luxurious by any stretch of the imagination. As a result, the mold spots tended to simply blend into the tumbledown environment. However, now that he was paying them close attention for the first time in ages, he finally noticed that they had clearly undergone a noticeable change since he and his sister had moved in. Not only had they all grown by a sizable amount, but unless he was mistaken, it looked like they had multiplied as well.

These realizations soon had his skin crawling. "Uh, Mabel?"

"...G'night, Ginelle! G'night-huh? What's up?" She rolled over and looked his way.

Dipper was now consciously keeping his gaze averted from the ceiling. The more he thought about their predicament, the more it repulsed him. "I was just thinking….maybe we should….um, clean some of these mold patches up."

"Whaaaaat?" Genuinely startled by his suggestion, Mabel shot up in bed. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" The twins wore near-identical looks of utter bemusement as they gawked uncomprehendingly at one another. "Well, just look at them. They've doubled in size since we first got here, some of them are starting to drip...I don't even know what, and...okay, is that one glowing a little?"

"Yeah, Madison's been doing that since Monday." Her affirmation strengthened his disgust-spurred resolve.

"Yeesh." He shuddered. "Okay, we seriously have to-"'

She cut him off with a burst of laughter. It was hardly the show of support that he had been hoping for, and Dipper groaned exasperatedly. "What? What's so funny?"

"You are! I mean, just listen to yourself, bro. You sound like this! Ooooooh, I'm Dipper! I think these are all sooo yucky! Ooooohhhhhh! Oh they're soooooo icky, I think they're scaring me! Ooooohhhhh!" She flailed her arms and sang in a comical falsetto. "We have to deal with weird stuff all the time, and you're getting hyped up over this?"

"What else am I supposed to say? They're definitely grossing me out." He freely admitted. "Seriously, how is it that you're actually happy to have them here?"

"Easy! It's 'cause they're way more just weird spots on the ceiling." She countered cheerily.

"...They're also probably pretty hazardous to our health?" Dipper took an educated guess.

"No!" Mabel giggled. She shook her head incredulously. "Dipper, they're our friends!"

"Our friends?" He incredulously repeated.

"Yup! Just a nice big gang of our very own funky fungus pals!" The girl joyously proclaimed.

"Okaaaaay." The skeptic boy raised an eyebrow. He of all people knew that his hyper-amiable sister had no qualms with striking up new relationships. But considering that they were talking about hideous ceiling growths, this felt like a bit of a stretch even for her. "Uh...you want to explain how?"

"Yeah! It's easy!" She of course was more than happy to clarify. "Think about it! Where were they when we first moved in? Right here. And where were they after that day where the creepy gnomes almost got us? Right here! And after that day when we time-traveled everywhere? They were right here! And after when a dinosaur pig-napped Waddles? Right here, of course! And after all the other creepy stuff with the ghosts, Gideon, the candy monster, the man-eating plant, that giant floating head thing…. no matter what's happened, at the end of everyday where have these little guys been?"

"Right here." Dipper stated the obvious.

Mabel rewarded him with a jubilant thumbs up. "You got it! No matter what crazy things we have to deal, they're always here for us. So what does that make them? Oh nothing much….except for some of the most awesomely reliable friends in the whole wide world, duh!"

"They're giant mold patches, and they're everywhere in our room." Dipper reminded flatly, still holding his ground.

"And our friends to the end!" She chirped back, keeping cheerily firm. "That's why they deserve a place to stay, and also a nice warm goodnight every now and then. If anything, it's the very least that we can do!"

"Aw, thanks!" A third voice appreciatively jumped into the debate. The twins' discussion promptly came to a screeching halt. The badly startled siblings gazed up together at "Daryl," as Mabel had so thoughtfully named him.

Both were justifiably taken off guard when it opened up what was unmistakably a trio of eyes, followed by a misshapen mouth. It grinned warmly at the thunderstruck preteens. "Seriously, I really appreciate that. You have no idea how-"

The compliment didn't go over well. Hoarse yells of shock ripped from their throats

"EVIL! CREEPY-EVIL!" Mabel promptly changed her tune with a horrified shriek. Hurriedly the twins charged from the room. Only a few seconds later the gasping tweens dashed back for a few essentials forgotten in their initial their haste. Dipper hurriedly scooped up Journal Number Three and his pine tree cap while his sister bolted for her bed.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Hurriedly she slung Waddles over her shoulders and then gathered up as many of her stuffed animals as she could possibly carry. "Sorry! I didn't mean to leave you! I didn't mean to leave any of you! I'm so sorry!"

Dipper grabbed a broom and aimed it towards the ceiling. The boy protectively stood watch over his twin while she packed her arms to capacity.

"Why couldn't they just be dangerous to our health?" He lamented breathlessly.

"Seriously, why? Why?"

"They know I snore!" Mabel wailed. In her frantic rush, a stuffed whale tumbled out of her grasp. "NO! Captain Flippers!"

"It's okay, I got him!" Dipper plucked it up and then nodded urgently towards the door. "Let's move!"

"Creepy! Creepy" She wailed as they raced out. The two stampeded down the stairs in a mad retreat to safety. An enormously awkward silence now settled on the attic bedroom.

"...Uh oh." The sentient mold spot exclaimed worriedly. "Um...guys?"

One by one, his comrades stirred to life. Without even needing to hear the order, they automatically began to ooze towards the window. They could definitely tell when they weren't wanted around anymore. However, that didn't stop them from complaining up a mighty storm.

"Great. Just great. We get something good going, and then this."

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Daryl." One snapped sarcastically. Together they crawled outside and slimed down the side of the Shack.

"Just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Another grumbled. The sentient fungus pile flinched under the hail of snippy remarks.

"Hey, I thought she'd be cool with it!" He whined defensively. "C'mon, you heard her too! She said we were friends and everything..."


End file.
